Lighting

Three Quarter Lighting

the light reaches most of the visible form, leaving only a fraction of the form in shadow
can also be called "broad lighting"
used in most portraits
"Rembrandt Lighting:" when short lighting is arranged so the nose shadow merges with the shaded side of the face

Frontal Lighting

light that shines directly toward a model from the viewer's perspective
light can be hard and direct, or soft and diffused
very little of the shadow is visible
occurs when you are sketching something with your back to the light source
emphasizes two dimensional design instead of sculptural form
one of the few times when an outline will appear in real life (the outline is really the thin fringe of shadow that appears on the edge of the form)

Edge Lighting

lighting comes from behind to touch all sides of the form, separating it from the background
usually requires a strong source of light
occurs outdoors when the sun is low in the sky and shining toward the viewer
edge light is not just a thin white line around the form

Contre Jour

type of backlighting where a subject blocks the light often standing against a bright sky
the field of light takes on an active presence almost surrounding or inducing the edges of the object
silhouette shape becomes prominent, colors lost saturation, shadows stretch forward
details disappear
think of the light area behind the subject as a sea of illuminated vapor
it is effective to keep a little color in the background haze and to lower it a bit from white

Light From Below

associated with a magical, sinister, or dramatic feeling
sources of light that shine upward are often strongly colored
one way to make something look large in a nighttime setting is to have the light shine on just part of the form and fall off rapidly

Reflected Light

every object in a scene that receives strong light becomes its own source of light (like the moon)

surfaces in shadow tend to be blue if they are facing upward beneath an open stretch of sky
Five truths about reflected light:

in shadows, up facing planes are cool and downfacing planes are warm
reflected light falls off quickly as you get farther from the source (unless the source is very large)
the effect is clearest is you remove other sources of reflected and fill light
the color of the shadow is the sum of all the sources of reflected illumination combined with the local color order of the object itself
on a sunny day, vertical surfaces in shadow usually receive two sources of illumination; warm ground light and blue sky light

Spotlighting

the spotlight rivets the attention of the audience on the most important part of the action
ambient light = light left over when the key light is removed
spotlight picks out a central figure, leaving the rest in shadow

Eliza Anderson's Color Journal